One Mocha and a Side Order of You
by thecarwashkid
Summary: When hot shot Hollywood record producer Santana Lopez meets "Lima Loser" Brittany S. Pierce in the Lima Bean while visiting her parents for Thanksgiving, her life changes for the better without her realising.
1. Chapter 1

"Stop!"

Santana stood leaning over the mixing board with her finger jammed into the intercom button. She sighed into the microphone before pulling herself up straight and sitting down. Puck was sat in the seat next to her, a confused look plastered on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" a small, shaky voice echoed through the mixing room. "Would you like me to start again, Miss Lopez?"

Santana stood back up again, running a hand through her hair. She stared through the soundproof glass at the small, blonde haired girl sitting crossed legged on a stool in the middle of the room; her headphones sliding off her head, due to them being to big for her. The Latina bent down towards the microphone again and pressed the intercom button.

"Hanna..." she said quietly, addressing the small girl, causing the girls face to drop, "How can I put this kindly?" Santana looked over her right shoulder for some assistance from Puck, who just sat there, wide eyed, staring at Hanna. "Hanna, you suck. Now get outta my studio."

Hanna's gazed fell from Santana's, down to the floor and before looking back up again, she carefully placed the headphones on the stand and clumsily stood up. She tripped up over a wire as she made her way out of the door. Standing in the mixing room, she looks over at Puck with a look of hurt glistering in her eyes and then looks over to Santana who notices a tear run down her cheek.

"Thanks for the opportunity, Miss Lopez." she whispered before dragging herself out of the room.

Puck stood up and made his way into the recording room to tidy up for the next kid who thought they had a chance at being a big hot new musician. Santana opened up the intercom to talk to Puck, asking him to close up the studio. She made her way through the reception, looking at the young girls sitting in the waiting seats, waiting to prove themselves worthy of a record contract. She watched as the girls awkwardly shuffled in their seats, before looking over at the receptionist and sat on the desk, looking down at the receptionist, who blushed and tried to hide behind a magazine. Santana pulled the magazine away from her and began reading it herself, frowning as she flicked through the pages. She handed it back to her receptionist and stood up brushing her hands over her skirt.

"Lana. Cancel the rest of appointments for the weekend." she listened as she heard the girls dreams shatter around her upon hearing Santana's words. Lana looked up at her with concern, nodding her head and picking up the phone before dialling some numbers and making calls. The girls in the waiting room gathered their stuff and awkwardly left the room, disappointed.

Just as Santana made her way to the elevator, Puck called her from down the corridor and ran to catch up with her. The elevator opened and they both stepped in, Puck pressing the button for ground floor. They both stood there in silence for a moment, before Puck cleared his throat and began to talk;

"Something wrong, mamacita?"

Santana turned her head to look at him, his signature grin plastered on his face, causing her tense expression to relax a little, "Not really, just pissed." she replied, returning her gaze to the door. He placed his right hand on her shoulder and squeezed it causing her to turn around again and smile at him again.

"Hmm, makes sense. Care to share, Miss Lopez?" he asked kindly.

She chuckled and then sighed, looking back over at the door again. "Papa's ill. He asked to visit Lima for Thanksgiving. Should be _fun_."

Puck pulled his hand back and placed it in his pocket, pulling out a small silver tin. He opened it and pulled out two cigars, handing one to Santana.

"Lima for Thanksgiving... you're gonna needs a lot of smokes, San." he joked, trying to defuse the tension and pulled out a lighter from his other pocket. The elevator beeped and the doors opened. Santana motioned for Puck to step out first, with her closely following. She stopped midway when her phone rang; pulling it out of her pocket and looking at the caller ID, she groaned; _Rachel Berry. _Choosing to ignore the call in result of not wanting to hear her voice, she allowed her phone to go to voice mail – though she expected more calls within the next 5 minutes.

Making her way to the car in which Puck was waiting for her in, her phone rang again; _Rachel Berry (1). _She flipped it opened and put it to her ear; "Rachel, I'm driving. Whatever you need to say, text it to me." she said quickly, not allowing the girl to get a word out and hanging up. She placed the phone back into her pocket and threw her bag through the passenger window of Puck's car, before climbing in the seat. Puck pulled the car in reverse and drove out of the studio parking lot.

Santana lent over the gear stick and turned on the radio, sighing in relief when she heard a classic rock anthem instead of the pop music that usually plays. She heard Puck laugh as she turned up the volume and the song become clearer; _Don't Stop Believing by Journey._

"Brings back some memories, eh San?"

The smile on her face grew as she reminisced the memory;

"_Puck, Puck, gets the fuck up. Today's the day!" Santana screamed, jumping up and down on Puck's bed. He sat up and pulled her legs, laughing as she fell on her back and bounced back up. She jumped off the bed and picked up some of his clothes from the floor, throwing them at him, "Get dressed, we gotta get going."_

_Puck looked over at his alarm clock; then glanced over at his calendar, grinning from ear to ear when he read the date and the words Santana had written underneath it; December 30th 1986 – Road trip. December 31__st__ – Journey Concert – Long Beach, California._

_He got out of bed and quickly changed into a pair of ripped jeans, and his old Journey shirt. Making his way down stairs, his smile still plastered on his face as he heard Santana singing along to the radio and smelt the pancakes she was cooking._

_**So much for the golden future, I can't even start**_

_**I've had every promise broken, there's anger in my heart**_

_**You don't know what it's like, you don't have a clue**_

_**If you did, you'd find yourselves doing the same thing too**_

_**Breaking the law, breaking the law**_

_**Breaking the law, breaking the law...**_

_He stood on the bottom step, watching Santana dance around the kitchen in her underwear and his old, well worn leather jacket – which was several sizes too big for her. She flipped the pancakes with one hand and held a cigarette in the other. He walked into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table, startling Santana as his chair scraped across the floor._

"_Convenient song to be singing while smoking a joint, San." he joked, as she sat down opposite him, placing the pancakes in the middle of them. She got back up again, grabbing two forks and a bottle of Jack Daniels from the counter._

"_And under age drinking, don't forget under-age drinking." she added, taking a mouthful of the whiskey before handing it to Puck who also took a swig. He shared out the pancakes and began eating his watching as Santana awkwardly messed around with hers._

_He took a massive bite of a pancake and chewed it before taking another swig of Jack Daniels and looked back up at the girl in front of him before chuckling slightly, "Where's Jess?" he asked, and watched as she stopped poking her food and lifted her head to his level._

"_She had to leave early. Her parents didn't know she was crashing her last night..."_

"_You girls totally kept me up with all the moaning and screaming last night" the boy laughed. Santana lowered her head again and Puck laughed as he watched her blush. She looked back up at him, stabbing her fork into her pancake and sarcastically took a bite. They both laughed as the radio DJ announced the next song; Don't Stop Believing by Journey._

"Santana..." a deep voice said in the background, shaking her out of her daze. "San, we're home." Santana turned to face Puck who was frowning at her, laughing as she widen her eyes at him, "Dude, we were talking and then you just totally spaced out. What's up?"

"That was the last time I was in Lima, Puck."

"What?"

"The day before the Journey concert back in '86. That was the last time we were in Lima."

Puck ran his hand over his head, smoothing out the flat mohawk he sported before sighing and placing a reassuring hand on his friend's knee, squeezing it slightly. He gestured for them to get out of the car and to go in their large, beach side condo.

Santana opened the front door, greeted by a large pile of letters jamming the way. She pushed them out of the way and made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, opening a cupboard and pulling out a bottle of vodka. Puck steps up behind her and takes the bottle from her hand, placing it on top of the shelf, out of her reach.

She narrowed her eyes at him and groaned causing him to smile at her, "Way to early to be hitting the bottles, Lopez. Go and get a bath or whatever woman do when they're stressed." and with that, she walked away from him, making her way up the stairs. "I hid the booze in your room too!" he added shouting at her and chuckling as he heard a door slam.

* * *

The only source of sound a light in the room now was coming from the TV. Puck was laying asleep on the sofa, a beer in one hand and the TV remote in the other hand which was hanging off the edge.

Santana stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at Puck. She walked to the TV to turn it off, only to leave it on when she saw what he was watching. Her stomach let out a loud grumble and she placed a hand over her stomach, sliding to the kitchen. She spotted her phone flashing on the counter and picked it up; _39 missed calls. 15 messages._

She flipped it open and saw that every one of them was from Rachel and placed it back down again with a sigh. Her stomach moaning again, she opened the fridge and stuck her head in search for something to eat. A loud knock on the front door made her jump, causing her to bang her head on a shelf in the fridge.

"Fuckin' ass shits." she whispered, closing the fridge door and making her way to the door. She looked through the spy hole and saw Rachel standing there; her wide grin spread across her face and waving erratically. "Ugh, what the fuck do you want, Berry?" the Latina spat out as she opened the door and Rachel let herself in.

"Nice to see you too, Santana." Rachel replied sarcastically, looking the taller brunette up and down, noticing she was in her underwear, "Do I need to ask why you're dressed like that?"

Santana glared at the small girl and shook her head, returning to the kitchen to get something to eat. Rachel walked over to the sofas, frowning when she saw what was on TV and upon realising Puck asleep. She gasped as she watched, wide eyed as two girls on TV did things she didn't need to see, cringing and turning away as one girl latched her mouth around the other girls' breast. Santana walked in, laughing at the reaction upon Rachel's' face.

"Is that…"

"First time watching lesbian porn, Berry?" she chuckled, causing the smaller brunette to blush and turn away. Santana grabbed the remote from Pucks hand and changed the channel to something that she thought Rachel would enjoy more. "So, what do I owe this visit, midget? It's 2pm."

Rachel shuffled toward Santana, grinning that large grin that made Santana's spine shiver. Santana watched as the brunette hesitated with what she was going to say, the anger in her face begin to show through, causing Rachel to pick up the pace.

"I was just worried that you weren't answering my calls or messages."

"We both know that's not why you're hear, Rachel." Santana replied, watching the look on the smaller girls face. She knew that look to well; the look that she just couldn't hold whatever she needed to say in for any longer.

"I heard you're off to Lima for Thanksgiving, Santana..." she begins, waiting for a reply and awkwardly carrying on when she doesn't receive one, "So I was wondering if you'd talk to this girl I know down there."

The Latina raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, "Oh?"

"No! It's not like that!" she small girl spits out after realising what Santana meant. "Her names Tina, she's a good friend of mine. She's a really talented singer looking to make it in the industry. I told her you'd talk to her."

The taller brunette turns around and makes her way to the kitchen again, climbing on to the counter to reach the bottle of vodka Puck placed on the top shelf earlier, "No. I'm not talking to anyone."

"But she's good."

"That's what they all say. What makes her special?" she snaps, opening the bottle and taking a large mouthful and crossing her legs on the counter, "What makes her better than all the other girls that walk into my studio every day, thinking they have a chance at this industry?"

Rachel stands staring at her in defeat. She takes her phone and a notepad and pen out of her bag, flicking through her contacts and writing down a number. She rips out the number and places it on the coffee table, turning on her heel and heading towards the front door. Santana watches her from the kitchen counter, taking large mouthfuls of vodka. She watches as the small girl opens the door and turns around, her large brown eyes searching for Santana's across the room.

"Give her a chance, Santana. Please, for me?"

The Latina rolled her eyes and turned her glance to the coffee table before craning her neck back to looking at Rachel before nodding.

"Fine. I'll meet with her. But I'm not promising anything."

The small brunette dropped her bag at the door and ran across to Santana, throwing her arms around her and causing her to slide off the counter. They shared a hug for a moment before Santana began to feel awkward and pulled away, smirking.

"Watch it; Puck might get the wrong idea. Me being in just my underwear and all." Santana added as she watched Rachel pull away and blush awkwardly, clearing her throat and making her way back to the door. Santana watches her again and waves at her as she walks out the door.

* * *

Puck awoke late the next day, to the sound of a car beeping and a man's voice shouting from outside. He sat up and blinked his eyes a few times before standing up and stretching. His heart sinks when he notices Santana lying on the kitchen floor, six bottles of vodka scattered around her. He stares at her for a moment in the silence, gathering his thoughts, before another loud beep and voice startled him;

"Puck, Santana! Hurry up! We're gonna be late!" the voice sings from outside. Puck ran to the front door, swinging it open. He puts a hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun when he notices Finn in his car hanging out the window shouting. Puck spots a very angry looking Quinn sitting in the passenger seat next to him, tapping her fingers on the window frame. She leans over Finn and honks the car horn herself – five times – before returning to her seat. Puck runs down the drive away a bit and shouts to his friends;

"Hey dudes! Give us a minute, yeah?" he watched as Quinn banged her head against the dashboard and Finn pulls himself back into the car, placing a hand on Quinn's back.

Puck turns around and runs back up to the condo, slamming the door shut, causing Santana shift in her sleep. He ran over to the kitchen sink and filled a cup with water and then placed some ice cubes in it from the fridge, before pouring it down onto Santana's stomach. He watched as she sat up and flailed her arms around, muttering in Spanish before falling back against the floor to go back to sleep.

He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, "I don't think so, Lopez." and he carried her up the stairs to the bathroom, placing her in the bathtub and turning on the shower. She screamed as the freezing cold water hit her skin, jolting her from her sleep and causing her to sit up.

"What the actual _fuck_, Puck? Who the _fuck_ do you think you _are_?"

"We're late for lunch with Finn and Quinn." Puck said turning the shower off and completely ignoring her hung over like questions.

"Shit."

Puck threw a towel around her and left the room heading for his bedroom to make himself look presentable. Santana stood in the middle of the bathroom for a moment, staring at herself in the mirror. She examined the lines forming across her forehead and around her eyes. She bought her hand up to her mouth and blew her breath into it, turning around when she heard laughing from the doorway;

"Vodka." Puck said, smirking at her as she narrowed her eyes at him, "And lots off it according to the kitchen floor." he added, answering her unasked questions and he turned on his heel, returning to his room. She swung open the cabinet door and scrambled through it in search for some aspirin.

"It's about time!" Quinn shouted out of the car window when she spotted Santana and Puck walking towards them. She pulled her head back in and looked over at Finn. "She's hung over" she added with a disapproving sigh.

"How can you tell?"

"Just look at her."

Finn squints his eyes watching the Latina stumble as she walked, taken aback when the brunette shot him a threatening stare. He gulped and started the car engine, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel nervously when Puck and Santana entered the car. Quinn spun around in her seat and greeted Puck with a heart warming smile before glaring at Santana.

Santana sat forward in her seat, her head inches from Quinn's. "Fabray, if you've got something to say, just go ahead and say it." Finn shuffled nervously in his seat and pulled the gear stick in reverse, ready for when he was told to drive off. Puck pulled Santana back down in her seat and fasten her seatbelt before fastening his and patting Quinn on the shoulder, who nodded over at Finn in motion for him to drive.

They drove in silence for ten minutes before Finn leant over and turned on the radio, quickly flicking the station when heard the moans from the passengers at the song.

"I love this song!" he gleamed as he turned it up and _Crazy for You by Madonna_ began to blast from the speakers. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and sang along until a hand came up from behind and turned the radio off.

"Hey!" Quinn snapped over her shoulder at Santana as she turned in her seat. Santana shrugged and placed her head against the window, and started banging her foot on the back of Finn's seat.

"That song fucking sucks, Finn. All sappy and shit."

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Santana?" Quinn shouts and causes Finn and Puck to stop and awkwardly look around the car, "You've done nothing but be a fucking asshole since you got in this car." She turns around and glares at the brunette slouching in her seat.

Puck stares at Santana, watching her face for any change – worrying she might snap at any minute. He looks over at Quinn, who was wearing the same look as Santana. He watched as Finn fidgets in his seat nervously and was chewing on his left finger nails. The scene didn't change for at least five minutes until Finn pulled the car up in a packed car park. Finn quickly got out the car and walked off towards the restaurant across the road, quickly followed by Quinn.

Puck and Santana sat in the car for a while longer, saying nothing. Minutes passed by and Santana finally turned away from the window, looking over at Puck who was staring at her with a sad expression. She shoots him a look and he drops his head, opening the door and getting out, turning back around to look at her once more.

"I thought this had stopped, San."

Santana gulped back a lump that had formed in her throat as she watched Puck walk towards the restaurant. She sat for a minute in the silence, banged her fists against the back of the drivers' seat and moved to get out of the car to join her friends.

* * *

The four of them at quietly in the restaurant as the waitress walked over and took their orders. Santana notices the awkward vibe coming from the waitress as she addresses her. _Probably gonna ask for an autograph or some shit,_ the Latina thought to herself, rolling her eyes at the wall next to her.

The waitress returned moments later with their drinks. She placed down each of their drinks in front of their table mats. Santana face glows with anger when she placed a glass of water down next to her.

"The fuck is this shit?" she snaps.

The waitress looks over at Quinn nervously, who replies, "I ordered it for you, San. I'm not having you drunk at Finn's birthday." She turns to face Finn who was biting his nails again and smiles a tooth grin at Quinn who returns it, placing a hand on his shoulder and patting it. "If it was down to me, you wouldn't be here."

"Then why am I here?"

"Finn wanted you here."

Santana's eyes wided as she looked over at Finn. He sat apprehensively looking around the restaurant biting his nails and she felt her heart sink when he looked at her – that same toothy grin plastered on his face again. She smiles back, moving her arm across the table and patted her hand over the top of Finn's. He flinched at the contact at first, but flipped his hand and squeezed hers in return.

"Happy birthday, Chico."

* * *

Lunch arrived about half an hour later and the four of them greedily tucked in to their meals. They share laughter as they eat, laughing at how each of their jobs are going, what's happening at home. Quinn snorts out her drink she tells them the story of how a guy at her office asked her to marry her.

The conversations died out for a while, while they finished the remains of their food. The restaurant went quite for a moment, and the lights dimmed. Everyone in the restaurant looked around, confused as to what was happening and then a small group of people clambered out of the kitchen door holding a birthday cake. They made their way over to the table where Santana and her friends sat, singing Happy Birthday as the placed the cake on the table in front of Finn. Santana, Quinn and Puck joined in with the singing.

"Make a wish, dude!" Puck said. And with that, Finn blew out the candles.

* * *

**Note: I apologise for how slow this chapter has come off as but I can't just have Santana in LA one second and Lima the next. I've already wrote a couple more chapters and I believe it gets better. Let me know if you want anymore chapters and I'll upload them. I also apologise for the cheesy title! Thanks for reading thought :)**

**Any questions, don't be afraid to contact me; thecarwashkid on Tumblr  
**


	2. Chapter 2

That Friday, Santana found it twice as hard to get out of bed. She rolled herself out and lay lifelessly on the floor for a moment before getting up and dragging herself to the bathroom, climbing into the shower and sitting there as she let the water wash over her bare skin. It was sometime before she decided to get out and start her day. Making her way down the stairs, she hears music blaring from the kitchen. Puck was standing over the stove flipping pancakes and singing along to the radio. She watched as his head collided with the cupboard door in his feeble attempt to get out some plates.

"Morning" she laughed as she walked up to him, standing on her tip toes and patting him on the head before walking to the radio and switching it off. He looked taken aback by how unrealistically happy she appeared to be coming off as but shrugged it off as a matter of a good sleep and continued cooking. He flipped the pancakes out onto two plates and poured two cups of coffee, and proceeded to place them on the coffee table in the living room.

The two of them sat in silence on the sofa for a while as they enjoyed their breakfast. Puck eventually reached for the TV remote and flicked on the TV – the pair of them cringing as Rachel's face popped up on the screen.

"Must be her Letterman appearance for her upcoming show." Puck stated as he changed the channel causing them both to laugh. He threw the remote on the coffee table and the sat in silence again to continue to eat while watching a music channel; Santana's face dropping a music news reporter followed by her face appeared on screen;

"_Hollywood has seen some top producers throughout the years, but no one has been quite up there as one Santana Lopez. The small town Latina made something of herself when she moved to LA in hopes to follow her dreams. Starting off as just a singer in country clubs on weekends, she eventually made her way into the industry with her right-hand man, Noah Puckerman. Together, they become one of the top duos LA had ever seen and seven albums and fifteen Grammy's later, America's favourite Hispanic turned to a life of booze after falling into a downwards spiral. _

_But they snapped back into action when the two Ohio singers opened up a record studio in downtown Hollywood. All was going well with the business, until now. It's been months since Miss Lopez has cut a record deal with the millions of people that walk through her studio in hopes to impressing her. Is she losing her touch? Or is something happening in her busy producer life? Maybe a new album? Find out on MTV's top music show – "_

They sat starting at the TV for awhile, talking in what hey just watched. Santana dropped her fork onto her plate and placed the plate on the table. Puck watched her as she continued to stare blankly into the TV, shocked when she began to laugh. "America's favourite Hispanic!" she laughed, clutching her stomach and gasping for air.

Puck joins in with her laughter, "Since when was I your right-hand man?" The two of them sit and laugh for a good ten minutes and stop when the TV airs the last music video they ever made. Santana switches the TV off and continues to eat her breakfast as she begins to laugh again;

"We have to watch that when it comes on TV."

There was a loud knock on the door that evening. Puck ran to answer it and Santana screamed at him not to, knowing that it would be Rachel. The front door snapped open and just as Santana had predicted, Rachel walked through carrying a takeaway bag in one hand and a bunch of movies in the other – "Movie night guys!" Santana made an attempt to move up the stairs, muttering under her breathe when the small brunette called her into the living room. The three of them sat down on the sofas for a moment in silence before Rachel removes the food from the bag and orders Santana to place a movie into the DVD player. Puck walked up into the kitchen to grab a few plates and forks returning to the living, his attention focusing on to Santana as she opens up the mini fridge next to her, taking out three beers and throwing them to each of her friends. He continues to watch for a few more seconds, watching her place her own beer down on the table in front of her, leaving it unopened – a wave of relief washing over him.

A few movies later and the three friends appear to be restless and bored. Puck fell asleep hours ago after Rachel made them sit through a showing of the movie version of _Mamma Mia!_ as she sat and recited the entire script; Santana lay slouched across the two seat sofa feeling her eyelids become heavy as she attempted to watch the end of _Funny Lady. _Rachel glances across at the Latina and gets up from the beanbag on the floor, lifts Santana's legs up and slides onto the sofa placing Santana's legs over the top of her thighs. Santana lay staring at her for a moment before placing her head back down and closed her eyes.

"Hey Santana," Rachel began, gently rubbing Santana's calves. "How did you know?"

Santana turned around again and looked at her, sleepily smiling up at her friend in a bid to remove the sudden look of sadness that spread across her face. "How did I know what, midget?"

"You know…."

"No, I don't."

Rachel's hands stopped moving up Santana's calves and she picked up her legs and moved them off her. Santana placed her legs on the floor and sat up, her eyebrow knitting as she anxiously watched Rachel move in closer to her, pulling her mouth to her hand and whispered in her ear, "How did you know you were gay?"

Santana moved her head away from Rachel, a smile creeping up on her face. She watches as Rachel blushes and turns away, Santana moving closer to her this time, shuffling up next to her and placing her hand on her knee. "I just did." she replied, patting her knee. "So, who's the lucky lady, man hands?" she added as she picked up her bottle from the table and started to drink it.

"Quinn Fabray."

Santana spat out her beer into her lap and began to choke. She coughed and laughed as she tried to regain control, placing the beer back onto the table and turning to look back at Rachel.

"Are you shittin' me?"

"These past couple of weeks we've been hanging out a lot and it's been awesome. We kissed last weekend, it was amazing…" her voice trailing off as she thought back to the kiss causing Santana to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Hold the gory details, Streisand. I'd rather not know."

Rachel shook her head and continued to tell Santana about her feelings for Quinn – Santana nodding in concern and laughing every time she watched her friend blush at the mention of Quinn's name.

"This is actually really adorable, Rachel." Santana began, taking another beer out of the fridge, "I'mma have to work my magic and gets you two together."

Again, Rachel blushed at Santana's words and shuffled around in her seat. She stood up and began to pace around the living room, apprehensively biting on her nails. She stopped in front of Santana and crouched down in front of her, "I don't know, Santana," she begins, her eyes filling with tears. "Quinn's always busy looking after Finn and she probably doesn't even like me."

"Rachel, listen to yourself!" Santana pulls Rachel up onto the sofa, Rachel's head falls into Santana's shoulder and Santana started to run her hand through her friends' hair for comfort. "Of course she likes you. You're a great person, Rach. Anyway, she kissed you, didn't she?"

Rachel pulled her head up from Santana's shoulder and looked at her, a smile cropping up onto her face as the Latina's warm smile grinned back down at her. She dropped her head back onto Santana's shoulder; "Yeah, you're right."

* * *

Santana awoke a couple hours later, lying on the sofa with Rachel's head across her chest, who was also asleep and had her arms wrapped around Santana. Her eyes slowly flickered around the room before closing them again – her eyelids too heavy to remain open for too long. She looked over at the clock on the wall; _4:30am_. She turned her head and dropped it slightly so it rested on top of Rachel's, smiling as Rachel's grip tightened around her. Moments later her eyes flickered back over at the clock, snapping open as she re-reads the time – "Shit!" She sits up and pulls herself from Rachel's hold causing her to jolt awake.

"What's wrong?" the small woman's voice fresh with tiredness startles Santana as she makes her own way up the stairs. She stops and turns around to look at her friend, smiling as she watches her fall back down on the sofa, wrapping her arms around a pillow and nudging her head into it. Santana continues to walk back up the stairs and into her bedroom. She stands in the doorway, grimacing at the mess. Pushing her way through the stacks of junk and her belongings, she climbs onto her bed and pulls a suitcase from underneath it. She jumps back off the bed and begins to throw some clothes into the case and the rushed into her en suite to grab some bathroom essentials. She scanned her room for more items for her trip – her eyes falling upon her old song book that was ledged under her wardrobe. She slid over to her wardrobe and pulled out the book, flicking through the pages and sighing. She throws it into the suitcase and closed it up.

She stumbled around the room in search for her phone. When she finds it in the bedside cabinet, she flips it open scanning through the new text messages – stopping as she noticed Quinn's name across her screen and a message that was sent three days ago;

_Thanks for behaving last night, S. It meant a lot to Finn that you came._

_Love, Q x._

She deleted the message and shoved her phone in her pocket, grabbing her suitcase and a couple of blankets and quietly made her way down the stairs. She paused for a second, looking around the living room as her friends lay asleep on the sofas. She crept over to the coffee table and picked up the phone number that Rachel had left there earlier that week before pulling the blankets over Puck and Rachel. Next she made her way to the kitchen to write out a note for Puck telling him when she'd be back and that she'd call him when she was in Lima – and that she'd call Rachel too to let her know how she is; _she'll only panic in case the plane crashed or something,_ the Latina thought to herself making herself laugh.

Santana walked down the drive way of her beach condo, idly dragging her suitcase with her. She took her phone out of her pocket and dialled a number. With in seconds a man answered it and she asked him to pick her up – "Running late. Plane leaves in an hour." She hung up and sat on her suitcase, humming _Eye of the Tiger _and stared out at the beach in the distance.

The early morning sound of the waves sweeping against the beach and the birds just waking up calmed Santana. She had been so unobservant these past couple of months that she had forgotten how beautiful the world really could be at times. She watched as she pelican swooped down into the water and grabbed a beak full of fish, swallowing them whole. A woman riding a horse trotted past her and waved her good morning before galloping off again. She was snapped out of her trance when a limo pulled at the end of the driveway and horn beeped, making her jump. The limo driver stepped out of the car and moved around to the back to open the trunk. Santana stood up and dragged her suitcase down the rest of the drive way and handed her suitcase to the limo driver.

"Good morning, Miss Lopez." he yawned as he loaded her case into the car.

Santana smiled at him. He opened up the limo door for her next and she climbed in, rummaging through her jacket pocket as she slid across the seat. "Morning, Adam." Adam closed the door and got into the drivers seat. Two cups of coffee were lodged in the cup holders between the front seats; one labelled with Santana's name on it. He picked up the cup and handed it to his boss through the window, "Nothing like a mocha in the morning, eh Adam?" she added as the boy smiled at her, pulling the car into drive and slowly accelerating down the road.

Although Santana wasn't looking forward to spending time with her family in Lima, she was in an unusual good mood. The drive to the airport was cheerful and the two of them sat singing along to the radio with Adam mimicking the guitars and Santana drumming on the dashboard; she had moved into the front of the car at the first red light. Santana enjoyed spending time with her employees. After all, they were just people as were she and she believed she should treat them as friends, not as people were lower than her because she was somewhat of a celebrity and they weren't. Aside from Puck and Rachel, she didn't really have anything to do with anyone outside of work. Quinn never really had time for her after working her day job teaching kids about acting and then with looking after Finn whenever she was free. There was Finn, but Finn annoyed Santana too much. Sure, it wasn't his fault the majority of the time and sometimes he was normal enough for her to handle, but he wasn't someone she'd plan to hang out with on a daily basis.

* * *

They reached the airport about half an hour later. As they pulled up outside the LAX, Adam suddenly became saddened. Santana picked up on his change in mood and patted him on the shoulder;

"Pick me up from the airport when I come back to LA and we'll do this again, okay?

He nodded and got out of the limo, running around to the truck and popping it opening to take out Santana's suitcase. Santana strolled to the back of the limo, pulling out her wallet and handing Adam twenty dollars – "For the mocha." She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and began to walk towards the airport. She was amazed at how many people were in the airport at half five in the morning. Pushing through crowds of holiday go-ers and airport workers, Santana made her way through the terminal and to the front desk where a small, blonde haired girl sat filing her nails and chewing gum. Santana's brow knitted in amazement when she recognised the girl.

"Hello, Hanna." she asked in a light tone, her voice suddenly beaming with tiredness.

Hanna turned around, startled by the Latina's presence. "Hello, Miss Lopez. How can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm here to check in. Flying to Columbus, Ohio." Santana handed Hanna her ticket and waited while Hanna picked up the phone and called someone. She began to get impatient and started picking at the desk. Hanna finally hung up and handed Santana her ticket back.

"Plane leaves in twenty minutes."

Santana rolled her eyes and turned around to walk back through the terminal. She spotted a bar not far from where she stood. She stood for a moment, the conversation she had had with Puck at Finn's birthday party about her drinking. _"I thought this had stopped." _his voice rang through her head. She turned and saw a café across from the bar. She walked towards it and sat down at a table. An old woman wearing an apron and a hair net hobbled over to the Latina.

"Can I take your order?" the old woman breathed.

"Yeah, I'll take a mocha and one of them cookie things."

The waitress took a note of Santana's order and slowly made her way back behind the counter and began on Santana's order. Santana sat staring off down the terminal. Her phone rang and made her jump. Taking it out from her pocket, she groaned when she saw Quinn's name flashing across the screen. Choosing to ignore it, she continued to stare at the people passing by. She watched as an older man walked down the terminal, screaming at someone down his phone. His briefcase fell open and out dropped all the papers from it. Santana ran form her seat to help him, handing him the papers and walking away before he had chance to thank her. She sat back down and watched as the man looked around for her before walking off again.

Before the old waitress had a chance to bring Santana her order, a loud voice over the intercom announced that the plane to Lima was leaving in five minutes. Santana picked up her bags and ran over to the counter, handing the woman some money and running off to the gate.

The Latina flipped open the overhead storage and threw up her briefcase before sitting down by the window. Seconds later, a man in a suit opened up the same storage and placed in his briefcase, sitting down next to Santana. Santana smiled when she realised the man was the same man from the terminal. He turned around and smiled at her, holding out his hand;

"I never had time to thank you."

Santana took a hold of his hand and shook it, "It's no problem."

The two of them sit in silence again as the planes engines start up. The airhostess walks over to them and asks if either of them want anything, both of them shaking their heads. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the man turned to the Latina and opened his mouth again. "So, what have you been doing in Los Angeles? You look like a business woman yourself, all gone well I hope?"

"Nah, I live there. I'm a record producer. I used to be a musician though."

The man looked at her with a rather shocked expression, "I bet my daughter knows about you. She's real smart when it comes to musicians and stuff like that."

"What about you?" Santana asked, trying hard to keep the conversation going and turning it from her.

The old man smiled and laughed a heartily laugh, "I live in Lima, I was just on a business trip in LA – we decided to call it off early. You know Thanksgiving and all." Santana sighed at the mention of Thanksgiving and began to stare out of the window, tuning back in when the old man started talking again, "And it's my daughter's birthday on Tuesday. It's been a while since I saw her, so I thought I'd surprise her."

Santana felt her heart sink at his words. It had been a while since her father had seen her too, but was he going to be as happy to see her as the way this man made her daughter was going to be happy to see him? "Well, wish her a happy birthday from me when you see her." she said and the old man smiled, patting her on the knee before turning away and flagging down the airhostess. Santana began to stare out of the window again and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The plane finally landed in Columbus about five hours later. The sudden contact of plane to land jolted Santana awake. The man next to her laughed when she began to mutter under her breathe about how bumpy and slow the flight was – "First time travelling on a public airline?" he joked and smiled when Santana cracked up into a laugh.

The captain's voice rang through the intercom telling them they had landed and for them to enjoy their stay. The airhostess began to take plates and drinks from the passengers as they got up, taking their bags out of the overhead containers and made there way off the plane. Santana remained on the plane until everyone had got off, not wanting to get caught in the mad charge of people panicking as they made their way to the airport. The airhostess noticed that she was still sat there, watching her as she struggled to get her briefcase from the overhead container. The airhostess walked over to her and stood on her tiptoes to grab Santana's case for her.

"They make these fucking things too high," Santana spat as she took her case from the woman, "Thanks."

"No problem. Enjoy your stay!" the woman replied, too cheery and happy for the likes of Santana at the moment.

"I doubt it." The Latina sang in a sarcastic tone.

Columbus Regional Airport was even busier than LAX. Santana's eyes glided over to the giant clock on the wall; _2:43pm. _The terminal was loud and the ringing of voices rang through Santana's head as she made her way to the luggage and impatiently waited for her bag to roll up on the conveyer belt. When it finally did, she yanked it from the belt and began to speed walk towards the exit. _I bet this looks fucking suspicious as hell, _she thought as she began to run and pushed pass whoever she could. She groaned as she stepped outside, the long line of taxi's lined up in the parking. She looked around, trying to pick out a taxi that looked clean and upon realising that all the taxi's looked the same, she jogged towards the one in front of her. She opened the door and threw her bag in, sliding in next to it. "Drive to Lima and hurry up about it, I'm in a real bad mood." The taxi driver chuckled and pulled his taxi out of the space and left the airport.

Driving through the city, the taxi driver turned over the radio station and began to hum along to the song, tapping his finger on the steering wheel. Santana sat in silence, irritability drumming her fingers against her suitcase and staring out of the window. Moments later, the taxi stopped at a red light which seemed to remain red for too long. Santana began making impatient noises and grabbed her phone from her briefcase. She scanned through her contacts and pulled up Rachel's name to call her, banging her head against the window when it went to voicemail. She continued to scan through her contacts. She stopped when she saw a name on her phone of someone she hadn't talked to for years - _Jess_. Hesitating, she called the number, her heart racing as she pulled the phone to her ear. The ringing slowed down her reality and she felt her heart drop when an animated voice spoke through her phone;

_We're sorry. You have reached a number that is no longer in service._

Santana quickly closed her phone and began to stare out of the window again. The taxi driver looked through his rear view mirror and glanced at the Latina. His eyes creasing into a smile as he looked. "Santana Lopez?" he grinned. Santana turned her head and looked at him in the rear view mirror. "It's me."

"Sam Evans?" Santana asked. Sam turned around. His hair had grown down to his shoulders and he now sported a slight beard. He laughed and turned back around to watch the road "Jesus, it's been a while Trouty Mouth. How you doing?"

"Well, I'm a taxi driver so what do you think?" the two of them sat and laughed for a while as they caught up on the years since they last spoke.

A sudden thought popped into Santana's head. "Hey, Sam. Got a place I could crash for the week?" she asked shyly biting her nails. She hadn't even thought about where she was going to stay while in Lima. She considered staying at her parents' house but decided that it wouldn't be that much of a good idea. Sam turned around and shook his head.

"You remember Mercedes? You two had a massive fight over something once in school."

Santana narrowed her eyes and knitted her brow in frustration as she tried to recall the name. She laughed when she remember the reason they had a fight. "Mercedes Jones? Tired her luck with Puck and I went schiz in worry of losing my best friend. What about her?"

Sam chuckled at the stupidity behind the fight, "She lives in one of them massive houses on the outskirt of Lima. She rents out rooms for a reasonable price. Give her a call, I'm sure she'd rent you one out for the week." Sam pulled down the glove department and pulled out his phone. At the next red light, he quickly flipped through his contacts and opened up Mercedes' name. Handing his phone to Santana he added, "Punch her number into your phone and give her a call."

Santana took his phone and typed the number into her phone. She began to panic again as the dial tone rang through her head. Mercedes picked up seconds later and Santana felt at easy.

"Hello?" Mercedes asked.

"Hello, Mercedes Jones? It's Santana Lopez." Santana listened as Mercedes gasped at the other side of the phone. There was a few seconds of silence before Mercedes spoke again.

"Well damn. How you doin' Satan?"

Santana laughed and told Mercedes how she was, asking how she was too. There was another awkward silence and Santana heard a high pitched cheerful laugh in the background followed by a girl's voice – _"Do you want another coffee, Mercedes?"_ Santana listened as she noticed Mercedes move away from the phone and reply to the voice.

"Who was that?" Santana asked to try and break the silence.

"Just the barista at the Lima Bean." Mercedes replied. "So, what do I own this phone call?" Santana sighed into and began to tell Mercedes about her father being ill and how he had asked her to go round at Thanksgiving to stay with them for it and how she hadn't thought the plan through when she bought plane tickets to Lima with no where to stay when she got there. Mercedes laughed at how unorganised the Latina had been, "Well, I'm renting some rooms. Come round mine and we'll sort something out." There was another awkward silence and Santana finally ended the phone call after saying her thanks. Taking back his phone, Sam asked if he should drop Santana off at Mercedes. She nodded and the two of them sat in silence for the rest of the journey.

Sam pulled his taxi up outside of a large, three story house that had a neatly organised garden with a large sprinkler spraying the lawn and a man was on a ladder by a tree with a pair of sheers. Getting out of the taxi, Sam opened the door for Santana to get out. He opened up the trunk and took out her suitcase. Santana pulled her wallet out and handed him a fifty dollar bill. His eyes widened and he insisted that he couldn't take money from an old friend. Rolling her eyes in defeat, she placed the money back in her wallet and took a hold of her suitcase making her way up to the house. She turned around and addressed Sam

"Not coming in?"

Sam shook his head. "Mercedes and I don't get along that well anymore" he sighed sadly. Santana stood and watched as Sam fiddled with his jacket before waving good bye. She continued to walk up to the house when the gardener turned around to talk to her.

"Beautiful day, senorita!" his voice deep with a Spanish accent.

A smile spread across Santana's face. "Sí, día muy hermoso!" she replied, watching as the gardener's smile widened. She made her way up to the door and hesitated as she knocked. Seconds later, Mercedes opened the door. "Hello."

* * *

**Note: Sorry, I know this is another slow chapter. I PROMISE there's Brittana moments in the next chapter. What about this Faberry? Would anyone like it to happen? Though, I also promise that Brittana will happen before Faberry if it does happen.**

******Any questions, don't be afraid to contact me; thecarwashkid on Tumblr**.


	3. Chapter 3

The two woman stand in the doorway for a moment before Mercedes laughs and throws her arms around Santana's shoulders, pulling her into the hallway. "Damn Satan, you ain't changed a bit."

"Neither have you." Santana smirks as she looked the woman up and down as they stand in the hallway. Walking down the hallway, Santana scans the walls; one wall is covered in bed & breakfast certifications that are surrounded by pictures of Mercedes' friends and family. A sad smile spreads across her face when she notices a picture of Mercedes in her graduation gown along with more pictures of her and her friends on their last days of school. One picture that hangs crooked captures her attention and she stands on her tip toes to straighten it; she smiles at it as she notices a blonde girl cradling a cat and another girl sitting with her arms wrapped around a boy's neck.

Mercedes turns around and grins as she notices Santana straightening out the picture, "Girl, do you plan on standing in the hallway straightening out all the pictures all day?" The Latina falls back on her feet, startled by Mercedes' voice. She shakes her head and chuckles, walking down the rest of the hallway and joining Mercedes in the living room. A young boy sits with his face inches from the TV, his eyes glued to the screen as he watches SpongeBob SquarePants and a woman sits on the sofa, knitting. Mercedes clears her throat and the boy turns around to face the woman on the sofa before nodding over to Mercedes and Santana.

"Santana, this is Miss Wilson."

Santana holds out her hand for Miss Wilson to shake, "Nice to meet you." The young woman shyly takes a hold of Santana's hand and gives it one firm shake and nodding at Santana before letting go and returning to her knitting. Santana returns her attention back to the young boy who is now staring at her, "Who's this handsome young man?" she adds, smiling warmly at the boy who blushes and runs over to Miss Wilson's lap.

"Josh Wilson." Mercedes laughs as she scuffles up the boys' hair with her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr Wilson." and again, Santana holds out her hand – this time for Josh to shake; who grips it tightly and shakes, causing Santana to laugh and congratulate him on his handshake.

Josh pulls away from the handshake and crawls up next to his mother; his thumb in his mouth and his eyes fixated back onto the TV. Mercedes takes a hold of Santana's arm and pulls her into the kitchen. She opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of water before opening it and taking a drink; "Miss Wilson is deaf by the way."

"Are you kidding?" Santana quickly replies, looking back out of the kitchen door over at the woman. Mercedes looks over at the Latina, who had now turned back into the kitchen and widened her eyes at Mercedes, "You could have told me that before I spoke to her..." she walks up to Mercedes and playfully punches her in the arm and walks towards the conservatory doors, looking outside into the garden. She watches as another little boy runs around with a dog and she smiles to herself, "Beautiful place you've got here."

"It's alright" Mercedes replies, handing her a mug. Santana frowns at the mug causing Mercedes to laugh at her once again; "Relax, its coffee. I'm not trying to poison you."

The two women share a laugh and stand in silence for a while, while they drink their coffee – no one saying a word until Mercedes places the mugs in the sink after they have finished and leads Santana up to her room. She opens the door to a large, bright bedroom that over looks the garden; the walls painted lime green, held more pictures – pictures of landscapes and flowers. A queen sized bed sits in the middle of the floor, facing a large window. Santana's eyes widen as she looks around the room, taking in every detail. She makes her way across the room, through another door and finds herself in the bathroom. It's just as large as the bedroom, with a large round spa bath and a shower that could easily fit five people.

"Shit, Mercedes..." is all Santana can vocalize as she walks back in the bedroom to meet Mercedes again. "You really have done well for yourself." Mercedes shrugs and holds up a remote to Santana, "What's that?"

"It's for the blinds. You're not gonna wanna have the neighbours spy on you, are you?"

Santana smirks and shrugs on shoulder, "Could be fun."

Throwing the remote over to the Latina, Mercedes chuckles and makers her way out of the room, turning back when in the doorway to talk to her one more time; "Dinner's at seven." before closing the door and leaving Santana alone.

Santana stands still for a moment and continues to look around the room. She throws herself onto the bed and sighs at how comfortable it is as she sinks into it. Kicking off her shoes, she watches as they hit the dressing table and a piece of paper falls from it. She walks over to it to pick it up and reads it;

_Mercedes_

_Call in at the Lima Bean on Friday. I need to talk to you about something and I'm sad._

_B x_

Santana felt her heart drop as she re-read the letter. Today was Friday and Mercedes was at the Lima Bean when she had called her asking for a place to stay.

"Well whoever you are B, I hope you're not sad anymore." she says to herself as she places the note back on the dressing table.

* * *

Seven o'clock couldn't have come around any faster than Santana had hoped. Since Mercedes had left her in her room earlier that day, she'd been dying to go down and grab something to eat, but she had a feeling it wasn't the politest thing she could have done. So instead, she spent the afternoon in the bath, reading through her journal. Four times she had tried to call Rachel and Puck and with no reply from either of them, she switched off her phone in hopes they were both alright.

As she pulls her hair into a ponytail and puts on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, she hears the grandfather clock un the upstairs hallway chime seven and she makes her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Miss Wilson and Josh and sitting at the table across from another woman and the little boy she saw in the garden with the dog. Santana sits down at the other end of the table – away from everyone else, not wanting to snap at anyone due to hunger. Her stomach moans out, causing the two boys to turn her way, staring at her as she pours herself a glass of water. She spills the water and one of the boys laugh, causing Santana to snap;

"What's so funny?" her voice dark and low. Mercedes turns from the stove and her eyes narrow at Santana who looks at her and frowns, "What? I'm hungry."

"Some things never change." Mercedes laughs and slides a place across to her, watching as her face lights up at the food. The two boys continue to stare at Santana while she eats. Miss Wilson pulls Josh's head away and points to his food while the other woman stares at Santana too, before looking at her son.

"Dwight, it's rude to stare. Eat your peas!" the woman whispers, looking back over to Santana and mouthing the words I'm sorry. Santana smiles and continues to scoff down her food greedily.

Mercedes pulls out a sit next to Santana and sits down. She places a napkin across her lap and picks up her knife and fork and digs in to her food. Not minutes into her food, Santana throws down her knife and fork and pours herself another glass of water. Mercedes looks over at her and notices her empty plate. She laughs as she hears Santana's stomach still growling and stands up, taking Santana's empty plate from the table and walks back over to the stove, returning seconds later with a plate full of food.

"There's plenty more where that came from, Satan." she says as she places the plate down in front of Santana, sitting back down to eat her own food. Santana stares at the plate of food and then over at Mercedes, before picking up her knife and fork again and shoveling the food in her mouth. "Hungry?" Mercedes adds.

"Yo' 'ave no idea." Santana spits through a mouthful of food. She goes on to tell Mercedes about her flight and the taxi ride to her house and ends up telling her about the rest of her week; Finn's birthday, Rachel's new show, how hers and Puck's business is going and why she's in Lima.

At eight o'clock, the other guests got up and left for bed, leaving Mercedes and Santana sitting at the table. They sit for hours just talking about what's happened in their lives for the last twenty three years. The conversation dies out when they hit a touchy subject for both women;

"Sam asked me to marry him about five years ago," Mercedes begins, taking a sip of her wine and handing Santana another can of beer, "I said no, obviously. He fell into a depression after that, so I heard."

Santana's brow knits as she remembers seeing Sam from earlier that day, "Why? From what I remember, you two were great together."

Mercedes shrugs and sighs, "I don't really know. I just didn't want to marry him..." She trails off and stares at the wall opposite her. Santana downs her beer and burps, snapping Mercedes from her trance. "What about you? Are you married or anything?"

Santana laughs loudly, "I couldn't get married even if I wanted to, could I?"

Mercedes frowns at her and then snaps her fingers after she realises. "Fine then, got a girlfriend?"

Santana shakes her head and opens another beer, "Don't be stupid. I haven't had a steady girlfriend since I was last in Lima." her head drops and her eyes stare at the table. Mercedes puts her hand on Santana's and squeezes it. The Latina looks up and smirks, "I've had plenty of one nighters though." Mercedes brow knits this time, as she tries to tell Santana that that is no life to live. Santana's head sinks again, agreeing to Mercedes' statement. "Of course its not, I know that. It's just; I've never found anyone to be with."

They sit in silence for what seems like forever. Santana is the first the break the silence as she stands up and grabs a couple of beers, saying goodnight and making her way up to her room, leaving Mercedes in the kitchen.

Up in her room, Santana walks across the room in the dark. She pulls of her sweatpants and grabs the remote from the dressing table to close the blinds before turning on the bedside light. She sits down in the middle of the bedroom floor and opens a can of beer, taking her journal from her bag and begins writing in it. She hums and mutters to herself as she scribbles down on the page. She takes a sip from her beer and spills it down her tank top, not even realising as she continues to write.

She hears the grandfather clock chime four and she looks up from her journal, rubbing her eyes and stretching. She closes the journal and stands up, placing the book on the bedside table and stretches once more. Noticing the beer stain on her tank top, she pulls it off and throws it across the room, climbing into bed and turning off the light.

"Santana Lopez is back in business." She slurs to herself in the dark and quickly falls into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, Santana's phone buzzes across the bedside table and falls onto the floor. She crawls across the bed and leans down to grab it, pressing answer and pulling it to her ear. Feeling foolish when she realises that it wasn't a phone call but an alarm, she throws her phone across the bed and crawls back up into the covers to fall asleep again only to be woken up by the sound of laughing and screaming from outside. She gets up from bed and drags herself to the bathroom, turning the shower on and stepping in still in her underwear. She groans as the water hits her skin and wakes her up. She takes her underwear off and continues to shower.

After showering, she walks over to the cabinet above the sink and searches for aspirin, slamming her fists on to the sink when she doesn't find any. Her phone buzzes again and she grabs a towel, wrapping it around herself and searches for her phone.

Puck's name flashes across the screen and she throws it back down on the bed, ignoring it. She falls against the bed and sighs as her phone continues to buzz. After the buzzing stops, she stands up and drops the towel to the floor, pulling her suitcase from under the bed and taking out a clean dress and underwear. She quickly gets dressed and makes her way down the stairs.

Mercedes sits in the kitchen, reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. She looks up when she notices Santana standing in the doorway and then continues to read. "Want some breakfast?"

Santana nods and sits down. Mercedes stands up and pulls a mug from the cupboard, placing it in front of the Latina, who pours herself a cup of coffee. She takes the newspaper and starts to read it herself as she drinks her coffee. Flicking through the job sections in Lima, she notices a familiar name and quickly closes the paper.

"Looking for jobs in Lima, huh?" Mercedes asks as she places a plate down in front of her. Santana shakes her head and begins to eat.

"I feel like shit."

Mercedes laughs, "You look it too. Got any plans for today?"

"Gotta go meet some girl for a meeting or something." Santana shrugs "Can't really be fucked but whatever. Then I'm gonna go visit my parents."

"Your dad was on about that the other day." Mercedes begins and she watches as Santana's eyes widen at her words. "He was in the Lima Bean a couple days ago. He wouldn't shut up about you." Santana feels her stomach turn and she drops her fork.

Taking another mouthful of coffee, she stands up and makes her way up the stairs. She throws herself back onto her bed and slams her wrist against the headboard. Her phone buzzes again. She answers the phone and is greeted by a very happy and very cheerful Rachel.

"Good morning, Santana!" the woman's voice cheeps down the phone causing Santana's spine to shiver. "Are you awake?"

"No, hence the reason I answered..."

Rachel laughs, "Someone's in a mood! I hope you're ready, it's almost time for your meeting with Tina!"

Santana sits up and looks at her watch; 12:00pm. "Shit, where has the time gone?" she mutters to herself. Rachel asks her what she just said and ignoring her question, Santana grabs her shoes and makes her way back down the stairs and out of the house. She gets into her car and places her phone into the stand, turning it on loud speaker and driving out of the driveway. She cringes and sighs as she listens to Rachel talk about nothing for the entire journey.

* * *

Santana walks up to the entrance of the Lima Bean, still on the phone to Rachel. She looks up at the sign above the door and a sad smile spreads across her face. She turns around and watches as the people of Lima rush around going about their daily routines and she dazes off for a moment before Rachel's voice becomes louder and snaps her from her trance.

"Santana! Would you please listen to me?"

"Yeah, I was listening."

"You weren't!"

She turns around again and makes her way into the coffee shop, laughing at the seriousness in Rachel's tone, "I'm to arrive at the Lima Bean at precisely 12:30pm," she looks down at her watch and laughs again, "Which is now. I'm to sit at that table in the corner with that torn up, battered red couch," she stands by a pillar and looks for said table. Upon noticing it, she clicks her tongue and walks towards it, "And I'm to wait 'til I'm addressed by a girl named Tina. There, how was that for _not _listening, Hobbit?" she adds with a slight tinge of sarcasm.

Santana hears Rachel clear her throat in defeat. "Fine." Santana laughs at the sound of disappointment in her voice. "Listen Santana, I have to go now. I'm meeting Quinn. Please, be nice." and with that, the girl on the other side of the phone hung up, leaving Santana feeling alone in a busy coffee shop full of people. She awkwardly looked around the shop, taking in how little it had changed since she was last there twenty three years ago. Her eyes drift over to the table across from where she sat, where the memories of how she met her first girlfriend flood her mind;

"_Hey" a small, red headed girl said, standing over Santana with a coffee in one hand and a book in the other. Santana looked up from her own book and smiled at the girl._

"_Hey" she sheepishly replied._

_The girl shuffled around, her eyes pinned to the floor. "Can I sit here?" she looked up at Santana who was still smiling at her and she smiled back, "I kind of need to study and all the other seats are taken." The Latina motioned for the girl to take a seat. They sat in an awkward silence for a while before Santana pulled out her cassette player and a couple of mix tapes from her bag. The girls' eyes fell upon the tapes and she asked if she could have a look. Santana pushes the tapes across the table and laughs when the girl freaks out over her music taste._

"_No way! No actual fucking way. It's so hard to find people who still appreciate good music these days. Fuck me, you're awesome." The girls looked up and held out her hand to Santana and winks at her, "Hi, I'm Jess. What's your name?"_

"Santana Lopez?"

Santana snaps back into reality and looks up, "Huh?"

"Santana Lopez?" a small Asian woman dressed in a black tank top and a plaid skirt stands behind the sofa opposite Santana, "You're the record producer Rachel was talking about, right?" she shifts her gaze from Santana as soon as Santana looks at her.

"Yeah, what's up?" she stands up from the sofa, straightens down her dress and holds out her hand for the woman to shake. "You must be Tina?" the woman nodded and accepted Santana's handshake – which was sloppy and Santana could easily tell that Tina was nervous about this meeting. They both sit down and Tina stares at the table for a few seconds before looking back up.

"Would you like a coffee, Miss Lopez?"

"Sure, a mocha would be awesome right now. And please, call me Santana – Miss Lopez makes me feel ancient." the Latina jokes and they both share a laugh for a moment. Tina watches the entrance to the Lima Bean as two people walk through the door; an Asian man and a tall blonde woman. They are both laughing about something as they walk past Tina and Santana. Tina grabs the mans arm causing the two of them to stop.

"Oh hey babe. Didn't notice you there..." he says, placing a kiss on Tina's forehead. Santana watches them awkwardly as they greet each other, her eyes slowly falling up on the tall blonde woman who stood a few feet away, staring off into nothing and rocking back and forth on her heels, biting her nails.

'_She looks familiar,'_ the Latina thought as she bites her lip in concentration. She watches as the blonde's gaze shifts from nothingness and her eyes meet Santana's, who was now licking her lips. The woman turns on her heel and quickly walks away. Santana frowns, _'Smooth move, Lopez. Biting your lip while looking at someone... Real smooth...'_

The Asian man turns his attention to Santana and he holds out his hand, "You must be Miss Lopez. I'm Mike Chang."

Santana takes his hand in her own, still staring at the spot where the shy blonde woman was just standing. Mike turns around to see what the woman was staring at before turning back around and raising his eyebrows at her.

"Santana. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mike."

They break their handshake and Mike turns her attention back to Tina, placing another kiss on her forehead before she told him to go away and get to work. After Mike leaves, Tina looks over at Santana, who looks lost.

"Mike's my boyfriend," she starts, watching as Santana rolls her eyes due to the obviousness. "He works here part-time..." she continues but Santana trails off from the conversation as she notices the blonde woman and returned – this time, behind the counter of the coffee shop. She watches as the woman grabs an apron from the hanger, placing it over her head and fastening it, then taking her hair up in a ponytail and tying it up. She makes her way over to the sink and returns with a wash cloth to wipe down the counters. Tina notices that Santana wasn't with her in conversation and she turns her own head to see what she was looking at. She smiles when she realises.

"That's Brittany," she laughs, causing Santana to snap back into reality and turn her attention back to Tina. "She helps Mike with his dance studio on the weekends. She's a pretty awesome girl."

"Yeah, pretty..."

Tina watches again as the woman in front of her shuffles about in her seat uncomfortably. She waves at Brittany and calls out to her, "Hey Brittany, can we get a mocha, a cappuccino and a blueberry muffin please?" she asks the blonde, who took their order and skips over to the coffee machines, "Oh Santana, did you want anything else?"

"No." Santana squeaks, looking back over at Brittany quickly before looking back at Tina. She clears her throat and pulls her bag onto the table, taking out a laptop and placing it on the table, flipping open the lid. "So Tina, let's get this shit started, shall we?"

Tina stares at her with wide eyes; the unprofessional language coming from the Latina's mouth somewhat shocked her – she heard that Santana was down to Earth and kind of easy going but never realised she'd be that easy going. However, she begins to talk about why she deserves the contact in attempt to impress Santana – feeling awkward whenever Santana began to type into her laptop.

Minutes into their talk, Brittany walks over to them with a tray. She places it on the counter behind her and takes off the blueberry muffin and a coffee cup, placing them next to Tina.

"That was the last muffin, Tina. You were lucky there! Carl just told Mike that he had to go and get me some more ingredients. I've got a busy afternoon then." Brittany mutters in an almost whisper, turning back around and grabbing the second coffee cup, "Here's your mocha, Miss Lopez." she adds with a shy smile and a quick glance at Santana.

Santana's eyebrows rose at Brittany's words. She stands up, never taking her eyes off the blonde. She is at least a foot smaller than her and right now, she feels like an idiot. Brittany's gaze switches from Santana to Tina and back to Santana, blushing when she realises that Santana was still looking at her. Brittany clears her throat and Santana returns to reality, holding out her hand to Brittany.

"Please, call me Santana," she whispers, feeling herself blush this time as the Batista takes her hand and shakes it. Their hands remain clasped for a good thirty seconds before a mans voices calls for Brittany and she clumsily lets go of Santana's hand, grabs the tray from the counter and runs off in the direction of the voice. Tina sits, laughing under her breathe as Santana sits back down and takes a sip of her coffee, looking over at the woman across from her and is no longer able to keep a smile off her own face.

"Well, that was awkward." the Latina laughs.

Tina bursts out laughing, clutching her stomach, "Just a bit."

"I hope Brittany doesn't think I'm an idiot or something now..."

"Oh, she won't. Trust me." Tina winks and picks up her own coffee. Santana sits for a moment, trying to process what Tina meant. Shaking her head to knock the thought from her mind, she places down her coffee and continues to type on her laptop, still laughing.

A few hours pass and Santana and Tina are still sat at the table. The shop had closed an hour beforehand so Mike and Brittany had sat with them to join in with their conversation – for the business side of the conversation had left long before. Santana was glad of the company. She felt as if these three strangers that sat around her had been in her life forever. Together, they laughed about nothing and everything and Tina and Mike exchanged their stories with her. As lovely as it was, it wasn't their stories she wanted to hear. She wanted to know more about the blonde woman who sat quietly next to her, head down, nibbling on cookies. Brittany hadn't said much since their awkward greeting earlier. '_Probably just shy,' _Santana thought to herself.

"Brittany also works at my dance studio," Mike says as he looks over at the blonde who is now sinking in her set, "She's the best dancer I've ever seen."

Brittany continues to sink lower and lower in her seat, "No, I'm not that good. I'm terrible actually."

"I bet you're great," Santana replied. Brittany felt herself blush at Santana's words. She turned her head to the left and looked up at the Latina who was grinning from ear to ear down at her. Santana took a bite out of the cookie in her own hand and turned to face Tina, "I'd love to see you dance, Brittany."

Mike and Tina watch as Brittany slides under the table out of view. She crawls from under it and stands at the end of the table. Clearing her throat, she grabs her coat from the arm of the sofa and looks down at her watch, "I've got to go." she mutters at Tina and Mike, "Nice meet you." she quickly adds to Santana and she turns to make her way out of the shop. Santana looks back at the door, feeling her stomach drop.

The three of them sit in silence again, taking in what had just happened before Mike opened his mouth to speak;

"I wonder what's gotten into her."

Tina sat grinning at Santana who was still looking door. She turns around; a sad expression plastered on her face. She picks up her coffee and downs the rest. Looking at her own watch, she groans as she saw the time; 7:45pm. Looking back up at the couple in front of her, she smiled sadly.

"So right, yeah. Do you have that CD of samples of your music, Tina? I'm gonna have to get going too – dinner with my parents." Her spine shivering as she thought about having to see her parents. Tina slides a CD across the table and Santana picks it up, tucking it in her laptop bag.

The three of them stood up at the same time and Mike and Tina shake hands with Santana. "This was nice," Santana confesses, smiling at the couple, "If you don't mind, I'd actually like to hang out – as friends or something – before I go back to LA. If that's alright with you, that is?" she adds as she hands Tina her card.

The couple agree and shake her hand once more and watch as she walks out of the shop. Tina turns around to face her boyfriend, "Think she's got a thing for Brittany?" she laughs. Mike nods in approval, cupping his lovers' cheeks and kissing her.

* * *

Santana pulls up in the driveway of her parent's house shortly after leaving the Lima Bean. The outside light blinks awake as she stumbles out of her car, an empty vodka bottle smashing against the driveway. The front door swings open and a silhouette stands there, watching as Santana mutters to herself as she struggles to lock her car.

"Couldn't even come to meet us sober?" a voice draws out from the house. Santana turns around and notices her mother standing on the door step, her arms folder and her face rather angry looking. The younger Latina's stomach drops at the sight of her mother as she makes her way towards the house. "It's been twenty three years, Santana..."

Santana pushes past her mother and walks into the living room, ignoring everything that is being said to her. She made her way over to the father who was watching the TV, her heart sinking as her eyes fell upon the tubes coming from his nose. He smiles at her and demands a hug. She sits down next to him and hugs him, holding him tightly and not wanting to let go.

"I've missed you, nená." he whispers as he runs a hand through her hair and kisses her forehead.

"Me too." she replies quietly.

They remain in a hug for some time before Santana's mother walks into the living room announcing that dinner was ready and Santana hops off the sofa and helps her father up, and they make their way to the dining room to sit down for dinner. The food was already placed out in a variety of bowls around the table and the wine glasses ready to be greeted with the sparkling and expensive looking champagne in the middle of the table. They sit scattered around the table, each grabbing a serving spoon and helping themselves to the food. They remain quiet for a good fifteen minutes before Tomas turns to talk to his daughter.

"How's the producing going, querida?"

"Oh, y'kno' 'ow it is." she replies through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. She swallows hard and takes a large gulp of champagne before pouring herself another glass – her mother never taking her eyes off her the entire time. "Same old, same old." she hiccups and smiles at her father who smiles back.

Rita leans forward on her elbows and rests her head in her hands. She breathes heavily through her nose and watches again as her daughter downs another glass of champagne. "No, we don't know how it is. Please, share it with us."

Santana stops drinking and places her glass down. She looks over at her father who appears to have fallen pale and nervous looking as he sat quietly eating his food. Her mother's stares were generating the anger that was building up through Santana.

"It's going excellent, mother." she sarcastically slurs, mocking her mothers voice.

Rita stands up and Santana mimics her actions. They begin to argue across the table at each other – Tomas standing up and moving towards the living room to get away from all the commotion. He turns on the TV, watching it, not saying a word, not doing a thing.

The arguing from the woman becomes louder and more intense. Rita slams her hands down on the table.

"... That's why I fucking ran away from this shit hole!" Santana screams as she grabs the champagne bottle and raises it above her head. She looks back sadly at her father sitting alone in the living room and then back at her mother who is now standing with her hands up in defeat and a worried expression on her tear-filled face. Rita pleads with her to calm down and lowering the bottle, Santana grabs a chicken leg and heads up the stairs.

She walks into a room that used to be her bedroom. She's taken a back when it's still as she left it before she ran away and she closes the door and heads towards the bathroom. She sits quietly on the toilet seat and hears her mother shouting at her father and she pulls out her phone to dial a number.

"Hello?" a voice drones from the other end of the phone.

"Pucky, my man!" Santana slurs out loudly. "Come... come ge' me?" she hears Puck sigh down the other end of the phone and starts to laugh at him, "Pretty please?" she pouts, not realising that he can't see her.

"Santana, are you drunk?"

"No," she lies through her blended words, taking another swift from the champagne bottle and swearing in Spanish under her breath as it pours down her dress. Puck hangs up the phone and she continues to talk to him and its a few minutes before she realises that he's not there anymore. She pulls the phone from her ear and looks at it, "Asshole..." she whispers as she throws it across the bathroom, downing the rest of the champagne.

She stands up and looks at herself in the mirror, "Who... who needs... Fuck him." she spits to her reflection. She falls against the toilet and crawls to her phone, shouting more Spanish curse words at it when she remembers that the screen is cracked. "I need... Fuck what?" she says as she slides the phone across the floor and crawls over to the bath, pulling herself into it and lying there, staring up at the ceiling.

"Maybe if I just... if I just drown myself." she whispers before falling unconscious.

* * *

**Note: Sorry it's taken so long to update, I've just had a lot on my mind. I do promise the next chapter will be up in a few days. Hope you're all alright with Glee ending and all. Sucks really. Anyway, hope you had a nice read.**

**Any questions, don't hesitate to ask me on tumblr; thecarwashkid :)  
**


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